Myth: California’s energy growth outstrips that of the United States
What the data show: California’s growth tracks or is below U.S.
growth

The recent public discussion about energy shortages in California has
been riddled with misinformation about energy use and trends in the state
and the nation.

One often-repeated myth is that the state of California has experienced
an extraordinary rise in electricity demand. The following graph, using
statistics collected by the California Energy Commission, shows that this
just isn’t so.

All major sectors of California’s economy show modest, steady growth
over the last decade. Between 1995 and 2000, the state’s electricity
consumption overall, as well as its residential sector, grew 2.5 percent
per year. This growth rate is not unusual for the state when compared to
the historic record, and is moderate when viewed in the context of the
growing population and economy. The California commercial sector did
grow at a higher rate over this same period -- 3.5 percent per year -- but
this is a moderate rate that was matched and exceeded in the late 1980s.

The graphic below, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration and the California Energy Commission, shows that between
1995 and 2000, California increased its electricity consumption at 2.5
percent per year, while the United States as a whole increased its
consumption at 2.1 percent per year. The difference between the two is not
substantial.

The next graphic below compares the growth in California and U.S.
electricity consumption on a per capita basis (the top two lines), and a
growth per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP).

There are two important points to be made: first, California’s per
capita, and per GDP consumption of electricity are considerably below that
of the United States as a whole. California’s per capita electricity
consumption stayed relatively flat through until 1998 while the United
States’ grew.

The second point is that both California and the United States have
become slightly more electricity-efficient in producing a unit of GDP,
suggesting that energy efficiency contributes to increasing productivity
as well as reducing the energy bills.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration and the California
Energy Commission.